Air travel in Jakarta: future developments

Keeping pace with the country's development, Indonesian air traffic has seen double-digit growth in recent years, and this is set to continue. From 70.4 million passengers carried in 2012 throughout the country, this volume should rise to 150 million passengers in 2015. Located around twenty kilometres from Jakarta and inaugurated in 1985, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (SHIA), named after the two main protagonists of Indonesian independence, entered the world's top 30 in 2009. Since then, the hub has continued to climb the rankings, reaching 13th position in 2012. And its progress could even accelerate. Indeed, while domestic demand is still insufficiently covered by ground transport, particularly rail, the number of aircraft in Indonesia is set to double over the next ten years.

The explosion in traffic began in 2005 and coincides with the rise of low-cost Indonesian airlines such as Lion Air, which has become the country's leading carrier, followed by several others such as Air Asia Indonesia, Sriwijaya, Batavia Air and Mandala Airlines. For its part, Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier, is gaining in importance, with a market share of around 20 % on domestic flights and 38 % on international flights. After launching a Jakarta-Amsterdam route in 2010, this member of the SkyTeam alliance has been serving London since March 2014.

With the growth of this business destination, connections to the Indonesian capital are set to increase. Air France has been operating a daily service between Paris, Singapore and Jakarta since September. "The opening of this route is an important turning point for business and tourism in Jakarta. And this route will indirectly help to strengthen bilateral links between Indonesia and France.explains Achmad Syahir, spokesman for Angkasa Pura II, the company that manages SHIA. It is also proof that the airport is ready to become a true international hub. In the near future, we expect a large number of foreign airlines to launch new routes."

SHIA has already overtaken major hubs such as Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and even Singapore. "Jakarta is now the fourth largest airport in Asia-Pacific after Beijing, Tokyo and Dubai"says Achmad Syahir. Connected to 44 cities around the world by direct flights, the airport is set to grow even further with the opening up of the skies within ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in 2015, which will enable all airlines to travel freely between countries and airports within the zone.

According to Skytrax, the airline consultancy, SHIA is also one of the most 'improved' airports in the world. To cope with its saturated capacity, expansion work is underway with the construction of a third runway and "Terminal 3 Ultimate", an extension of the terminal inaugurated in 2009. This work should be immediately followed by the revitalisation of terminals 1 and 2, designed by Paul Andreu and inaugurated in 1985 and 1991."We are planning to construct a building including a station, shops and several hotels. It will be linked to the three terminals by monorail."says Achmad Syahir. This new system will save a considerable amount of time for transit passengers, who currently have to leave one terminal to reach another by shuttle bus. Luxury boutiques, restaurants, banks, duty-free gift and gourmet shops, pharmacies, bookshops, lounges and medical centres are already open to passengers in terminals 1 and 2.